Colleges in Norfolk & Yankton sign transfer agreement

Students from Northeast Community College in Norfolk will soon be able to transfer credits and continue their education at the four-year Mount Marty College in Yankton.

The presidents of the two schools have signed a memorandum of understanding to create the path from Northeast to Mount Marty. Northeast President Michael Chipps says it helps expand their outreach.

“Community colleges in Nebraska are highly comprehensive,” Chipps says. “About 50% of our students are transfer students and about 50% go right into the career and technical education and then on to the workforce.”

Chipps says they already have many students who could qualify to make the switch.

“We carry about 18,000 credit and non-credit students and about 7,000 of those are found to be credit,” Chipps says, “so there will be a lot of students who will be looking at different opportunities like these.”

Mount Marty President Marc Long says many community college students go in intending to go to a four-year institution.

“And some go to community college who don’t really know what the next step is,” Long says. “We want to make sure they have that option. Since Northeast is only 60 miles away from Yankton, there are a good number of people in northern Nebraska who could easily travel to Mount Marty. We think this is just a natural collaboration between the two institutions.”

Long says the partnership could help keep students in the region. The agreement will be effective this fall.